It fills men with wisdom, like the Pishon: It refers to the Law, as Good News Translation makes clear. The Greek does not say men; Revised Standard Version has inserted this. Good News Translation is closer to the meaning. The Law is as full of wisdom as great rivers are full of water in the springtime—brimming over. Four of the rivers named in verses 25-27 are the four rivers of Eden (Gen 2.10-14). Ben Sira is associating Wisdom not only with the Law, but with paradise; compare the comments on 24.13-17. Good News Translation helpfully identifies the Pishon as a river. It is not known what river the name Pishon is given to, although some scholars think it may refer to the Indus River in modern Pakistan.

And like the Tigris at the time of the first fruits: The Tigris River flows the length of modern Iraq to the Persian Gulf. Good News Translation translates the time of the first fruits as “fruit-picking time.” This may be true, but the important thing is that it is early springtime, when rivers are likely to be at their fullest.

Alternative models for this verse are:

• The Law overflows with Wisdom like the Pishon and Tigris rivers in the springtime.

• The Law is filled up with Wisdom just like water fills up the Pishon and Tigris rivers in the early spring.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.